(1) Technical Field
The present invention is related to computer network communications. More specifically, the present invention provides a method, an apparatus, and a computer program product for providing directed communications through a networked array of nodes.
(2) Prior Art
Over the past several decades, the electronic communications field, particularly in the area of wireless communications, has exploded. In addition, the abilities of small processing devices have increased considerably while the cost of these devices has decreased. Wireless communication generally takes place between specific devices or nodes. In order to perform tasks such as developing routes through a network, it has traditionally been necessary to provide each member of a network with a unique identification so that specific devices may communicate. For example, in a cellular network or in an ad-hoc network, a unique identification or address is assigned to each device so that it may exclusively receive calls targeted to its address. Historically, the address of a device has been used for setting up a call, but the address itself was not intended to convey information regarding the location of the device.
More recently, location-based services have become an important focus of development in wireless communications. Through the use of a positioning system such as the global positioning system (GPS), or through the use of triangulation between sets of base stations with known positions, or through explicit user input regarding location, it is possible use the precise location of an individual user in order to tailor the service provided to that user. For example, customized activity menus may be developed for a user based on their location, including items such as local movies, restaurants, points of interest, etc. Generally, these systems require both an address of the particular device requesting service and a location for the device.
Many situations exist, however, in which it is impractical to provide each node with both unique device identification and with a location detection device such as a GPS device, but in which it is still desirable to transmit a message to a device at a particular location. Examples of these situations include those that use distributed sensor networks, smart mines, nanosatellites, and distributed robots where a large number of locally-networked nodes need to coordinate and share information. In these situations, it would be desirable to provide a communication mechanism that allows communication with a node at a particular distance and direction from some other node within an array of nodes. It is further desirable that the communication mechanism be operable without the use of unique node identities.